Not Clones, but Men
by GearUnlocked
Summary: Non-Canon. Set during the early parts of the Clone Wars, this story follows Shock of the 501st Legion and his fellow troopers as they fight trough disastrous battles and bizarre adventures while under the command of Anakin Skywalker an Ahsoka Tano. SYOC (Submit Your Own Clone) OPEN!
1. Chapter 1

** Author's Notes**

**- **Hi! Welcome to my new fanfiction! This is set during the early stages of the Clone Wars and will follow the 501st and various clone troopers! This is a SYOC, but in this stories case, it is a Submit Your Own Clone. So, clone troopers only, please! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Later!

**- **If you're looking to submit your clone, please answer the following in a PM. Clone trooper designation and name, weapon, appearance (hairstyle, armor pattern), personality, and misc. By misc., I would be talking about certain attributes to make your clone stand out – such as the Scottish accent that Cutup has. Thank you!

* * *

><p><strong>Not Clones, but Men<strong>

**Chapter 1 – First Battle of Felucia**

* * *

><p>"Rex, get those troopers up here now!" General Skywalker yelled, waving his hand in the air.<p>

"You heard the man, boys! Up there on the double!" Captain Rex shouted, relaying General Skywalker's orders as he pushed forward, firing his dual DC-17's at the wave of incoming droids.

"Right! Shock, let's go!" Jesse said as he ran past me, firing his DC-15s.

I looked down and gripped onto my own DC-15s before I ran after Captain Rex and Jesse, with several of my own brothers by my side. I found Tup and Kix to my left and Echo and Fives to my right, checking behind to find Dogma bringing up the rear.

Looking ahead, I found General Kenobi and Commander Cody fighting against droids, with the four remaining AT-TE's forming a circular perimeter around our forces.

"Incoming droids! Blast 'em!" Tup shouted as we all came to a screeching halt once we reached the front lines, with AT-TE's by our side, firing into the masses of droids.

"Now this is more like it!" Fives laughed as he fired his DC-15s. "Hey, Echo, bet I can get more than you can!"

"You really need to take this more seriously, Fives…" Echo sighed. "I think the General's wearing off on us…"

"Oh, come on! Afraid you'll lose?" Fives chuckled.

"I'm afraid _you _will."

"There's too many of them!" a trooper shouted.

"Tank! Bring up the launcher!" Captain Rex ordered. I found a trooper running towards us with an RPS-6 slung over his right shoulder.

Before the trooper could reach our position, I watched as he was gunned down by droids, dropping the RPS-6 onto the grounds of Felucia.

"I got it!" I shouted back before I dashed towards the RPS-6. Once I reached it I swiftly picked it off the ground and turned around, aiming the launcher at the AAT before squeezing the trigger, feeling the recoil of the rocket firing from the launcher.

I watched as the AAT was hit by a rocket and exploded into what seemed to be a million pieces. I could hear cheering come from my fellow brothers and found them celebrating from the destruction of the AAT.

"Yeah, Shock!" Echo shouted.

"That's the stuff!" Fives balled his hand into a fist and shook it in the air.

"Second wave! Second wave!" Commander Cody yelled out as I found more battle droids emerge from the Felucian forest.

"Incoming!" Echo shouted.

I tuned to my left and found fellow troopers being shot down by the newly-shown droids.

"Anakin, I've radioed for extraction from the fleet above!" General Kenobi said as he ran up to General Skywalker's side, deflecting incoming blaster fire with his light saber.

"Look! In the sky!" Kix pointed out.

I looked to the sky and found a pair of droid vultures chasing down a Republic V-19. Turning back to the battle at hand, I continued firing my DC-15s at the droids, hitting a battle droid in the head and a super battle droid right in between its eyes.

"Look out!" General Kenobi's voice caught my attention and as I redirected my attention towards the General's, I found General Kenobi pulling General Skywalker out of the way before one of the vultures spun through and crashed into one of the AT-TE's, knocking the tank over to its side.

"That was close," General Skywalker said as he faced General Kenobi.

"If those fighters got through, then our gunships can't be far behind," General Kenobi said as he glared out into the battle. "Prepare the troops to evacuate!"

"Tup, to your right!" I said to my comrade and he killed the droids that were about to flank him.

"Extraction's here!" Dogma yelled as he looked to the skies.

Before I knew it, the sound of gunships landing behind us rang through my helmet. I turned and found four gunships landing.

"Come on, grunts!" Captain Rex shouted towards us. "We are leaving!"

Along with everyone else, we made our way to the gunships, slowly backing up while we continued to engage the advancing droids. A trooper to my left fell from a droid blast as I backed up, with a few more kills adding to my growing list before I found myself aboard one of the gunships.

"Ashoka should be back from her jungle patrol by now," General Skywalker said as he deflected blaster fire.

"I'll try to contact her again," General Kenobi said as he too deflected blaster fire, bringing up his left arm with his comlink on it towards his mouth. "Ahsoka, where are you? Ahsoka, what is your location?"

"Go, go!" I shouted to the troopers that were still running towards the gunships.

"They're here to extract us. We're leaving!" General Kenobi said into his comlink, backing into the gunship.

"Move it, trooper! Come on, double time!" General Skywalker shouted to the last of the troopers as they entered the gunship.

"We're outnumbered! You must evacuate, that is an order!" General Kenobi pleaded with Commander Tano over the comlink. "They are running back here to regroup with the main force!"

General Skywalker deflected the last of the blaster fire before he entered the gunship, the doors closing behind him and the gunship taking off from the surface of Felucia.

"Hey, Shock," I found Jesse's hand on my shoulder. "Good job with that AAT. You really had our backs there, brother."

"He's right," Captain Rex nodded.

"I'm just doing my job, sir," I said, returning the nod. "It's what a good soldier does."

"Too right," Kix said.

"You are putting your troops' lives in danger, young one. You _will_ get on the gunship when we arrive," General Kenobi sternly said.

"Where's Ahsoka?" General Skywalker asked.

"Following your teachings," General Kenobi answered him.

"Is she winning?"

"For now."

The gunship came to a stop and the left side slid open, revealing Commander Tano down below with her own troopers, fighting off droids as she stood on top of a Juggernaut, deflecting blaster fire.

"She's not stopping," General Kenobi frowned as he watched the battle rage on down there.

"Land in front of them," General Skywalker ordered the pilot.

"Get ready, boys," Captain Rex said as he equipped his dual DC-17's.

"I'm always ready," Fives said with a nod.

The gunships landed and both sides opened, revealing the advancing droids in front of us and Republic forces to our rear.

"Fire!" Captain Rex ordered as we opened fire onto the droids, knocking down the first wave of advancing droids.

In a split second, I found Commander Tano and additional troopers in the gunship with us, before the gunships took off and hovered in the sky. I looked down and found more droids coming from all directions on the position where Commander Tano once was, engaging the deserted vehicles and blowing up the remaining AT-TE's and the Juggernaut.

"I wouldn't want to be there right now," Kix said, shaking his head.

Jesse whistled. "And there she blows."

"How many did you get, Echo?" Fives asked him, nudging Echo with his elbow.

"I told you, Fives, I don't want to –"

"Ep, ep, ep! Come on now, CT-21-0408. How many?"

"Fine…24."

"Ha! Beat you! I got 27."

"Congratulations, Fives…"

I cleared my throat, attracting the attention of the pair.

"What is it, Shock?" Fives asked.

"32."

"Eh…what?"

"I got 32 kills," I grinned underneath my helmet. "Beat you, Fives."

There was scattered chuckling coming from surrounding troopers as I turned away from Fives and Echo, diverting my attention towards General Skywalker and Commander Tano.

"Pilots, take us home..." General Skywalker sighed as he shook his head towards Commander Tano. "I'm disappointed in you, Ahsoka…"

"Master, please…" Commander Tano looked up at General Skywalker with a saddened look on her face.

"You disobeyed a direct order, Ahsoka. You put the lives of your men in risk," General Skywalker turned towards us troopers.

"But, Master, I thought I could win this battle…so Felucia would be under our control."

"Take it from one of the men. Rex?"

"A good soldier always does what they're ordered to," Captain Rex said before turning towards me. "What do you think, Shock?"

I looked at the young Commander Tano.

"I think a good soldier does what'll keep his comrades alive – no matter the cost."

* * *

><p><strong>Not Clones, but Men<strong>

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

**- **Hey everyone! I just wanna say thanks for reading this first chapter and don't forget to submit your clone! Those clones will be written in the next chapter, so until then! Bye!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**

**- **Hey guys! Thanks for coming back to check on Chapter 2! This is the debut chapter of a few OC's submitted to me via PM, and I want to thank those of you so much for submitting your OC's! SYOC is still open, so PM me if you want a clone of yours to be in this story! Thanks again, and I'll see you all later.

* * *

><p><strong>Not Clones, but Men<strong>

**Chapter 2 – Boarding of the Resolute**

* * *

><p>"Thanks again for the rescue, Master Plo," General Skywalker said to the Kel Dor Jedi standing before him.<p>

Troopers from the 501st were gathered around a circle in the hangar of the _Resolute, _with troopers from Wolfpack of the 104th Battalion – our saviors on Felucia. Along with us were our Jedi Generals and Commander Tano, who was awfully silent.

"It was not a problem, Skywalker," General Plo replied with the wave of his hand. "Although, it would be wise if you patiently wait for reinforcements the next time."

"Right, right…"

"Ahsoka, you should really respect the orders given to you by your mentors," General Plo turned towards Commander Tano and said. "They're the ones who are supposed to guide and teach, and you're supposed to learn, young one."

"Yes, Master Plo…" the words escaped from Commander Tano's mouth.

"I'll leave you two to head on back to Coruscant, for the Council wishes to speak with you for your actions today, Ahsoka," Master Plo said with a bow, one to which General Skywalker and Commander Tano bowed back to.

In a few seconds, General Plo and the Wolfpack were away from the _Resolute_ in a gunship. General Skywalker turned towards the rest of us and cleared his throat.

"Brave effort today, men. Although we couldn't secure Felucia for the Republic, don't count it as a total loss – this is war after all. We're headed for Coruscant, so expect some R&R for the next few days. That is all. Dismissed."

I found Commander Tano sadly walking away, disappearing into one of the hallways.

"You heard the General, boys!" Rex shouted, waving us off. "Get outta here!"

The large circle of battle-worn troopers soon diminished as everyone went their own way, with Echo, Fives, and Tup headed for the barracks. I felt my stomach grumble and grasped it, looking towards the other side of the hangar that led to the mess hall.

"I'm starving…" Jesse muttered.

"Hey, Shock, up for some grub?" Kix asked me.

"I'll take that offer," I said with a nod.

I walked towards the other end of the hangar towards the mess hall, with Jesse, Kix, and Dogma by my side. Ahead of us were the familiar faces of fellow 501st troopers.

"Hey, hey! Welcome back, boys!" the energetic voice of Hardcase shouted as he walked towards us, accompanied with a few other troopers of the 501st who stayed behind on the _Resolute_ – Arch, Frost Cross, and Blitz.

"Sorry we couldn't make it, clankers had us in a bit of a twist," Arch said as he ran his hand through his long, spiked back black hair.

"He's right. We would have been torn apart if it wasn't for General Plo," Blitz said with a stern look on his face – one that was always there. It was rare to ever see even the slightest smirk on his face.

"What'd we miss?" Frost Cross asked. You could always know who he was by is differentiated accent, along with that scar and uncommon light blue hair of his.

"Nothing much…" Kix nervously looked away. "Except that we were caught by surprise."

"Clankers were already prepared for us," Jesse shook his head. "I guess the Commander wasn't up to the task for this mission. All she saw ahead was victory, but she didn't see what was _around _her."

"I thought the Commander performed well enough," Dogma spoke up.

"I agree with Dogma," Blitz nodded.

"You weren't even there, Blitz," Kix scoffed. "The Commander almost got her men killed."

"If we were there, those clankers would've been on the run!" Hardcase gritted his teeth. "Oh, man…wait until the next battle, I'll tear those droids to shreds!"

"You sound a little trigger-happy, Hardcase," Jesse chuckled. "How 'bout I buy you a drink when we get back to Coruscant?"

"I could live with that," Hardcase smiled.

"Where's Buffer?" I asked, searching for the said trooper.

Buffer's been by my side since the beginning, we were together ever since we were born, so I've known him the longest. Just like the majority of the 501st, Buffer stayed behind on the _Resolute _while a handful of us assisted the 212th during the Battle of Felucia.

"Buffer's in the barracks, inspecting his Z-6 again," Blitz answered me.

"Reminds me of that one trooper from the 212th, what was his name again?" Kix asked.

"Jester – good man. I fought with him on Christophsis," Arch nodded.

"Too bad he has an obsession with guns, his good looks alone might've got him that Twi'lek from Ryloth," Frost Cross chuckled.

"Whoa, hold on a second, brothers," Jesse pointed towards Captain Rex and General Skywalker, who were conversing with a trooper in Katarn-pattern battle armor. "Who's that?"

"How 'bout we go and find out?" Kix suggested.

"Let's go, boys," Jesse signaled us with the wave of his hand and we began walking towards Captain Rex and General Skywalker.

"No way…" Arch shook his head. "What's a Commando doing here?"

"Maybe he's recruiting," Frost Cross chuckled. "He's looking for top soldiers – like me."

"Only thing you're good at is getting shot at by clankers," Hardcase laughed heartedly. "He wants me!"

"Yeah…a trigger-happy clone…" Kix muttered. "That's what the Commandos are all about, Hardcase…"

Once we arrived to where General Skywalker and Captain Rex were, we already found dozens of troopers huddling around them, with Fives and Echo inexplicably showing up by our side.

"You saw the Commando too?" Echo asked. "Fives here is obsessed about 'im."

"I've been telling you, ARC troopers stomp out Commandos in every way possible," Fives nodded. "It's always about ARC troopers."

Captain Rex noticed our presence and faced us, stepping aside to introduce the intimidating-looking Republic Commando, who folded his arms and stared at us.

"Torrent Company! This is RC-1832, but you may call him 'Guardian' or 'sir'! He's a new addition to the 501st, and I'll trust you all show him the respect he deserves!"

Murmurs drifted around the crowd about having a Commando among our numbers. There were some saying that it's because of how elite our status as a legion was, and others were doubting about Guardian's presence.

"I'll be heading to the bridge. Rex, Shock, care to join me?" General Skywalker asked, a question both Rex and I nodded to.

After our long walk to the bridge, I found the three of us standing in the control room, with Admiral Yularen walking towards us, a faint smile on his face.

"Admiral," General Skywalker acknowledged the man with a nod.

"General," the Admiral nodded back. "We've just exited hyperspace over Ryloth. We need to quickly refuel and then we'll continue our journey to Coruscant."

"Sounds good, Admiral. Make sure to make it quick though, the Council is expecting us to be back in Coruscant before the next rotation."

"I'm going to assume it's because of Commander Tano's actions down on Felucia, sir?"

"Eh…something like that."

"General!" a naval officer called out. "Three Separatist ships just jumped out of hyperspace, what do we do?"

"All hands, battle stations! Tell them we've engaged Separatists over Ryloth!" General Skywalker shouted back. "Admiral, you're going to have to wait on that refuel! Once we're in the clear, we'll send down shuttles to get our supplies."

"And when will that be, General?" Admiral Yularen raised an eyebrow.

"Leave that to me. Ready all fighters for combat!"

"General, a ship just jumped out of hyperspace next to us!" another naval officer frantically said. "We're being boarded!"

"Ambush…" General Skywalker shook his head before turning towards Rex and I. "Rex, Shock, repel the boarders! I'll handle the fighters."

"Roger that, General!" Rex nodded as he put his helmet on. "Shock, let's go!"

Rex and I ran towards the hangar, with General Skywalker splitting off from us at an intersection. On our way there, we found a firefight between a group of droids and troopers surging on.

Rex pulled out his dual DC-17's and began blasting down droids. I fired my DC-15S at the droids, knocking the head off one and taking down another.

"Clankers!" a trooper pointed out, before being shot down by the advancing droids.

"Vic is down!" another trooper shouted.

"They're bringing in the supers!" Redeye shouted as he fired his DC-15A at the B2 super battle droids. "Mixer, cover me!"

"Right on you, Redeye. Move up!" Mixer said as he fired his DC-15S at the droids.

Redeye rushed towards the last of the droids, who didn't notice his presence, and blasted the remaining ones. The surviving troopers turned towards us and acknowledged our presence.

"Sir!" Mixer saluted Rex.

"What's the situation?"

"We're under attack, sir. Droids are all over the place! They broke through a defensive line in the hangar and now they're getting in through the mess hall," Mixer explained.

"Although that happened, it's nothing the 501st can handle, sir," Redeye said as he caught up to us. "What's the plan, sir?"

"If we retake the mess hall, then we can push the droids back to the hangar…" Rex paused for a moment to think of a plan. "Alright, we'll do it like this. Mixer, Redeye, muster together whoever you can and take out any droids that are scattered around on the ship. Shock, we'll take the mess hall back."

"Right! The rest of you, with us!" Redeye ordered, with the few troopers left following after him and Mixer down the hallway.

"Let's go, Shock," Rex said as we continued down the hallway towards the mess hall. We found the mess hall down the hallway, where the blast doors were wide open, revealing the skirmish going on inside the mess hall.

"Look, Rex! Pilots!" I shouted, pointing towards a group of troopers in pilot gear pinned down behind one of the tables in the mess hall by a squad of advancing B1 droids.

"Hawk!" Rex called out, taking cover next to the pilot, who fired a DC-17 at the droids.

"Rex, boy am I glad to see you," Hawk responded. "We're pinned down!"

"What are you doing here? I thought that General Skywalker ordered for all of the fighters to be launched?"

"I'm supposed to make a run down to Ryloth and secure fuel for transport back here," Hawk said. "These six are supposed to be in battle right now, but the area where their fighters are is under control by droids."

"We won't be able to jump to hyperspace without sufficient fuel," I spoke up. "Rex, we _have _to get these pilots to their ships."

"I understand…Charger!" Rex yelled over to the other side of the mess hall, where a few other troopers were pinned down. One bearing 501st markings similar to mine turned his attention towards us.

"Yes, sir!" Charger called back while keeping down suppressive fire with his DC-15A.

"We're going to get these pilots to their ships, you read me?" Rex shouted, with Charger nodding in confirmation. "Let's move!"

"Go, go, go!" Charger yelled.

"Let's take it to them!" Hawk said.

"That's the stuff!" Broadside shouted with glee.

One by one the droids were shot down and we were able to take back the mess hall, with none of the pilots killed and minimal casualties. Once we reached the enormous hangar of the _Resolute, _we found that the droids were more occupied with the other side of the hangar rather than where we were, with the ships left unguarded as the droids were more focused on the troopers on the other side.

"My flyboys have your thanks, Captain!" Broadside saluted with speed.

"Shoot down some of them vulture droids for me, Broadside, and we'll be even!" Rex chuckled.

"Right! Contrail, Matchstick! Go, go! Into your V-19's!" Broadside ordered his pilots.

"Kickback, Flyby, you're with me! Let's go take down some clankers!" Swoop said to the other two pilots.

The six pilots entered their V-19's, with Hawk rushing into one of the gunships. The engines of all of the ships lit up, and the V-19's took off from the hangar, with a gunship following close behind.

"We can flank 'em right now, form a box around the last of the droids," Rex said to me. "If only there were more than just the two of us…"

"Reinforcements are here!" a voice shouted. Rex and I turned around and found a dozen troopers coming out from the mess hall, armed to the teeth. I looked up to the balcony above and found Arch with his sniper rifle.

"Redeye and Mixer told us where to find you two," Frost Cross said with the tilt of his head.

"We're under your command, Captain," Blitz saluted Rex.

"Then, let's go take this hangar back!" Captain Rex said before charging towards the droids forces, who noticed our presence and began to divide their forces to engage both us and the troopers on the other side.

"Take cover!" Rex ordered us as we dove behind crates stacked on top of one another, with laser fire zooming past us.

"Arch will provide sniper support!" Blitz yelled. "Frost Cross, Shock! Droid poppers!"

"Droid poppers!" Frost Cross repeated the shout before throwing the grenade. I pressed the button on the droid popper before tossing it towards the advancing B1 droids. They ceased fire and looked down before being shocked by the grenade and falling to the ground.

"Hahaha! Eat laser, clankers!" a familiar energetic voice yelled out. I turned towards the source and found Hardcase firing his Z-6 rotary cannon at the droids, mowing them down as if they were nothing.

Out of nowhere, Fives and Echo took cover next to me, DC-15S' in their hands.

"Where's your Commando now, eh, Shock?" Fives chuckled. "You see? It's all about ARC troopers. The Commandos just run away while ARC troopers stay and fight!"

"Tone it down, Fives," Echo sighed. "We're all on the same side, remember, brother?"

"Second wave! Right in front of us!" Frost Cross' voice brought me back into the action.

"These guys just never give up, don't they?" Fives sarcastically asked, firing his DC-15S at the incoming wave of droids.

In what seemed like a flash, Guardian jumped down from the balcony above and engaged the group of droids, taking them down with his DC-17m in a matter of seconds. One was left, standing behind Guardian and it seemed as if he was oblivious to the fact, but in a split second, Guardian revealed his vibro-blade hidden in his wrist, and stabbed the droid through its head.

"Okay…" Fives gulped. "I stand corrected."

"Keep your heads down and your weapons ready!" were the first words that Guardian ever said to us.

"I see them!" Arch called out from the balcony above. He fired a shot from his sniper rifle before turning back down to us. "Dogma, Tup, Denal, and Buffer are on the other side!"

"Forward!" Rex ordered us as he dove out from cover, advancing towards the last of the droids while blasting them down with his DC-17's.

I ran up towards one of the droids, blasting them before punching another in the head, knocking it back. I brought my DC-15S and aimed at the droid, blasting its head off.

I looked around and found the last of the droids attempting to surrender, but were being executed by fellow troopers. The other group of clones ran towards us and we all found ourselves in the center of the hangar.

"Attackers have been repelled, Captain," Dogma saluted Rex.

I found a familiar clone throughout the crowd and walked towards him, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Buffer."

He turned around and looked at me, lowering his Z-6.

"Well, hey there, brother," Buffer said with happiness. "Looks like you found me."

"General," Rex reported into his comlink. "All the droids have been turned into scrap metal. What are your orders now?"

"We're engaging the Separatist fleet, Rex!" General Skywalker's voice sounded through Rex's comlink. "We need to increase our efforts to refuel the _Resolute _so we can get out of here! Ahsoka's gone with the party down to Ryloth, but we've lost contact with them once they entered the atmosphere!"

"And what do you want us to do, sir?"

"Take a battalion and get down there! Find Ahsoka and get the fuel," General Skywalker sighed. "Until then, we'll keep these droids occupied."

"Yes, General," Rex said before ending his conversation with the General. "501st, gather around and listen up!"

"What's the plan of action, Captain?" Blitz asked.

"We'll spit up into groups," Captain Rex said as he pulled out a communicator and displayed a 3D model of the planet Ryloth. "Last point of contact with the Commander was right here."

A light blinked on the Western area of the planet.

"Shock, take a squad and find the Commander. The rest of us will go and get the fuel, and hopefully we'll all link up back here in a few hours," Captain Rex sighed. "Time is of the essence, gentlemen. This is do or die time, so let's do."

"Roger that, Rex," I saluted him before backing away. "I want Arch, Blitz, Frost Cross, Buffer, Guardian, and a few others – I don't care who – and let's move."

My group broke off from the main group of troopers and we walked towards three gunships, where six pilots were standing by. One of the pilots of the nearest gunship walked towards us, followed by another.

"The name's Ace, sir. This is my wingman, Eze," he saluted. "I'll be your pilot for this mission. I'll get you in and out as quickly as possible, so count on me!"

"Right…" I stared at him before ushering for everyone else to get in the gunship. "Let's go."

I followed the rest of the troopers and entered the gunship and watched as the doors slid to a close. The engines fired up and I soon felt us taking off.

"We got this, Shock," Buffer said to me as he nodded towards his Z-6 rotary cannon. "This baby will get us to the Commander, taking down tinnies or not – we'll find her."

"Hopefully there's something left for us to find, Buffer."

We're on our way, Commander.

* * *

><p><strong>Not Clones, but Men<strong>

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

**- **Thanks a bunch to those who submitted their characters, all of whom are accompanying Shock with the task of finding Ahsoka. You know who you are!

**- **SYOC is still open (I deliberately typed 'a few others' for a reason)!

**- **Thanks again for reading and I'll catch you all in the third chapter! See ya!


End file.
